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; "My Journey to Appalachia")
In 1941, three months after graduating from Vassar College, Ellie Lambert arrived in Brasstown, North Carolina, to join the staff at the John C. Campbell Folk School, an experiment in adult education modeled on Scandinavian folk schools. Ellie grew up on Long Island in a New York City suburb. Naive and idealistic, she decided to see the world by working in whatever different environments were open to a liberal arts major of the Great Depression years. My Journey to Appalachia is Ellie’s story.
When Ellie was offered a job at the Folk School, she agreed to work there a year in return for fifty dollars a month plus room and board. Ellie learned her task of marketing mountain crafts, but she learned much more: about organic farming and the breeding of dairy cows, how to spin and weave, about the comradery inherent in folk school life. However, her most important discoveries were the people of the mountains and the beauty of the country. She marveled at integrity, ingenuity, and courage of the residents of this region and valued their friendship.
Ellie’s one-year commitment grew into a lifetime commitment. After World War II, she married a local boy and returned to Brasstown to farm and raise a family. Ellie watched the Folk School grow into a thriving arts and crafts institution attended by people from all over the world. Although it is no longer the small school that became home to Ellie in 1941, the school has maintained the spirit of the early years. Her memoir is a slice of North Carolina history. Sixty-seven period photographs accompany Ellie’s narrative, including ten taken in the 1930s by renowned photographer Doris Ulmann. The integrity and warmth of the people at the Folk School are reflected in Ulmann’s sensitive portraits.
"Ellie Wilson’s fluid, bright story captures the final moments of the Folk School’s life before World War II changed everything. Her writing makes you a companion on a journey through times and places astutely observed and beautifully described. It is a strong portrait of a time, a school, and a community. It also has a delightful subplot: ‘Vassar girl finds true love with wisecracking mountaineer.’" — Jan Davidson, Director, John C. Campbell Folk School
; "Eleanor Lambert Wilson")
Ellie honed her listening and writing skills while employed as a teacher, social worker, and psychiatric counselor. She received a master’s degree in non-school counseling in 1979. Her spirit of advocacy led to her involvement in establishing several community service agencies. In 1955, she and Monroe were founding members of Hayesville’s Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. Ellie’s enduring sense of wonder and love of God make her a joyful student of the Bible.
Now semi-retired, she lists among her hobbies "learning new skills and appreciating them in others," no doubt an indispensable quality for a grandmother of six. Ellie attributes her love of people and of life to having interacted with a wide variety of people through her many activities in Western North Carolina.
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